Embattled UK-based Pastor Tobi Adegboyega Responds to Kemi Badenoch, Highlighting Societal Issues in the UK
Pastor Tobi Adegboyega, the UK-based cleric, has countered British Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch’s comments about Nigeria, pointing out that societal ills are also rampant in the United Kingdom.
Recall that Adegboyega’s church, SPAC Nation, was recently shut down by the British government following allegations of mismanaging £1.87 million in funds.
Kemi Badenoch
Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch had been criticizing Nigeria, accusing its police force of robbing those they were meant to protect.
In an interview with a British journalist, she was asked if she trusted the UK police. She responded:
“I do. My experience with the Nigerian police was very negative. When I came to the UK, my experience with the British police was very positive.”
She continued, “The police in Nigeria will rob us,” before laughing. “When people say I’ve had negative experiences with the police because I’m Black, I tell them I remember the police stealing my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
The interviewer, shocked, responded, “They took his shoe and his watch?”
Badenoch replied, “Yes, it’s a very poor country. People do all sorts of things. Giving people a gun is just a license to intimidate. But that’s not the issue. That’s not the standard we should use when talking about the British police.”
“When I was burgled, for example, the police were there. They were helpful before they eventually caught the person. This was in 2004, that was 20 years ago.”
Pastor Adegboyega
However, speaking on Monday’s edition of Channels TV’s Politics Today, Pastor Adegboyega disagreed with Badenoch’s comments, asserting that such societal issues were not exclusive to Nigeria.
He said, “I completely disagree with that statement. Between 2023 and 2024, approximately 78,000 bags and phones were snatched in the UK alone.”
He continued, “There’s a strong Nigerian and Black community here in the UK. For individuals like the leader of the opposition to reach that position, they’ve had to fight on the streets.”
“There have been funerals in the UK where children were killed — in some cases, three children from the same parents were buried,” Pastor Adegboyega said.
He continued, “And we have to ask, when the Nigerian community is addressing these issues in the UK, where are the voices speaking out? We’ve been fighting these battles.”
He pointed to the Windrush generation, which involved Jamaican immigrants, as an example of how Black immigrants have fought for years to gain representation and ascend to positions of power. “People have been fighting for decades just for a Black person or Black immigrant to reach those seats of power,” he said.
Addressing the challenges facing Nigeria, Adegboyega added, “Our country has its issues, but we cannot disassociate from where we come from. We’re not denying that our country has challenges, nor are we as old as advanced economies like Britain. But we cannot say that everything is dark, because that simply isn’t true.”
“We live on the streets and understand what’s happening here. We know that prisons, and particularly mental hospitals, have more young Black people than schools in the UK,” Pastor Adegboyega remarked.
He continued, “When SPAC Nation started, we made it a priority to send people to prestigious institutions like Harvard and Cambridge. We also have one of the highest numbers of students at Imperial College.”
